Ken Pierpont's Blog, page 52
January 16, 2019
Start With the Men (Sermon Audio)
preached at Bethel Church on January 13, 2019 AM
January 15, 2019
Baptism of Charles Perlos
Sunday, January 14 it was my privilidge to baptize Charles Perlos. Turn up the volume. I tell a bit of his story first.
when Chuck was baptized all of Bethel rise to their feet to give a standing ovation of praise to God.
January 14, 2019
Seven Things to Think About Before You Sin.
BEFORE YOU SIN; Things to Think About When You Are Tempted to Sin:
1. You are about to hurt the people who depend on you.
2. You are about to become addicted to sin—to take a step toward bondage-enslavement to sin.
3. You are about to give Satan and others a means of accusation. (like a handle on your back when you try to move forward)
4. You are about to damage or destroy your testimony for God and your personal reputation.
5. You are about to discredit your God. Our private sin is an open scandal in heaven.
6. You are about to forfeit eternal rewards.
7. You are about to break your enjoyment of fellowship with God. Your purpose in life, your joy, delight, and satisfaction in life, your continued ability to defeat sin require fellowship with the Lord.
What Do You Do When You Sin?
When you sin… what do you do? From my own heart I have assembled a list of ways I tend to deal with my sin instead of dealing with sin God’s way.
1. When we are confronted with our sin we usually deny it. Hide it cover it.
2. We tend to excuse it. We rationalize and “reason” out way out of it.
3. We try to minimize it Call it “really stupid” confess only what is easily forgivable.
4. We partially confess .
5. We blame others and don’t take responsibility for it. Eve blamed the serpent. Adam blamed his wife.
6. We feel remorse for it but don’t forsake it and hate it. (Why did God forgive David but not Esau?) (Hebrews 12:17; 2 Cor. 7:10) Grief over consequences vs. grief over broken relationship) (Psalm 51 “against thee and thee only have I sinned and done evil in Thy sight”
7. Admit it but continue in it. Delay…
What is the right response when we are confronted with the reality of our own sin? REPENT. It was the first command of Jesus. It was the first message of John the Baptist. It is the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. There are models of penitent prayers in the Psalms. (Psa. 6; Psa. 25; Psa. 32)
January 13, 2019
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 27) God Arranges Things
A few minutes ago I stepped out into the night. High in the southern sky was a half moon. The night was clear. Stars shown overhead. Outside it is cold tonight, within, warmth and people I love. Lois made a roast today. It was a good day.
Today I baptized Charles Perlos. Charles is the man who restored the place we call Bittersweet Farm and sold it to us. It was an amazing day, itself bittersweet. There was great joy in the church, but Chuck is not at all well. He may soon be with the Lord.
Charles Perlos gave me this picture of Bittersweet Farm taken many years ago.When we met Charles on October 1, 2017 he promised to sell us Bittersweet Farm. He was more than faithful to his word. We have become friends. The full story behind what I just wrote here is one of the sweetest stories in all my life full of stories. It’s a story I will tell another day, but your hearts are full and we will drift into sleep tonight with peaceful, grateful hearts.
Harmonica in My Pocket
Here is a little story about something that happened to me about 20 years ago in Fremont, Michigan:
I was sitting in my study working on a project a couple weeks ago when the secretary put a call through from the hospital chaplain. There was a family in need. I man had died. The family had recently relocated here from the south. They were requesting a Baptist preacher. I drove to the hospital and met the family. A widow of about twenty minutes was trying to say good-bye to her husband.
I prayed with her and talked with her about spiritual things for a while. She seemed comforted. I helped her along in the decisions she would have to make over the next few days.
Finally I said good-bye, left her with my card and drove home. I had a renewed love for life and a desire to see my family before returning to the study.
The next day a got a call from a pastor friend in a nearby village. He was doing the funeral and wondered if I knew anyone who could provide music. I asked the pastor to put the widow on the phone. She said her husband had loved music but they knew no one in the area. I said we would help. The songs she named were songs our family commonly sings together. She said they liked the guitar. I told her that we often sang with the guitar.
I asked what kind of music she wanted and she said her husband loved to play the harmonica, but she didn’t know anyone who could do that. She said it is a lost art and they would have to do without the harmonica.
The day of the funeral I took the older girls and we took a pleasant drive north to Hesperia. After we sang I surprised the family. I asked them to bow their heads and drew a harmonica from my pocket and played a simple version of Amazing Grace. There was weeping all across the room. The girls and I slipped quietly away and drove home satisfied that we were able to comfort a family in their grief and reinforce a cherished memory for them.
Last Wednesday I was called to the hospital again. This time in Muskegon. Another death. Mr. Henry Olman. We stood at Mr. Olman’s side and prayed. His granddaughter said; “I had to have one of his harmonicas. I have such sweet memories of him playing the harmonica.” His son-in-law looked at me and said; “He plays the harmonica.”
Mr. Olman was buried on a beautiful fall day. We were nearing the end of autumn, but it was a warm, glorious, sunny afternoon. When the family gathered I did my best to do honor the memory of the man, point his family to Christ and remind them of eternal things. At the close of the service I drew the harmonica from my pocket and quietly played Amazing Grace.
The weeping was a testimony to the fact that Mr. Olman was loved by his family.
Some people say God doesn’t care about little details. I will never believe that. I serve a God who sometimes arranges harmonica-playing preachers for grieving families
Bittersweet Farm | Summit Township, Michigan | Ken Pierpont | January 13, 2019
January 6, 2019
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 26) Rustling With Rumors
On Bittersweet Farm
It’s been a lovely week on Bittersweet Farm. Our spirits were lifted by sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures and a short holiday work week. We enjoyed clearing out the Christmas things and starting into a fresh new year. We hope all is well with you and yours. Thank you for reading. It’s heartening to know that so many of you across the country are encouraged by reading the Bittersweet Farm Journal. Everywhere I go I meet readers. That makes my heart glad. Here’s a story for you to think about this morning:
A Sunday Evening in Gallup, New Mexico
Our son Daniel was married in Gallup, New Mexico. It seemed like a foreign country to us. It was beautiful, stark, strange, and wonderful all at once. The wedding was a joyful thing and when it was over the couple left on their honeymoon and the siblings all went home via a side-tip to Colorado. Lois and I, Hope and our daughter Holly and her husband Jesse stayed behind.
We found a good church and attended services there on the Lord’s Day. After lunch we got some much-needed sleep. In the evening we went to a little restaurant downtown, not so much to eat as to have a place to be together. Sometimes it’s hard to arrange a good place in public for conversation, but the Lord smiled upon us that night.
The sun was out as it usually is in that part of the world. There was dancing in the town square. It was peaceful. The food was good, then we drifted into easy conversation.
I had been thinking about a book of stories that was on my heart. Stories of God’s unusual province. Times when God guided or provided or warned us in an unusual way. Whenever I got with people and time would allow I would ask them a question like this: “Do you remember a time when you feel God spoke to you, or a time of unusual circumstances that could only have been arranged by God?”
Jesse told me a story about how God confirmed his decision to go as a missionary for four years to Tanzania. We drifted into easy and meaningful conversation about the Lord’s direction, the Lord’s work, the Lord’s provision. How one obedience leads to another.
We talked about how Holly grew to admire him while reading the blog of his missionary work in Tanzania and how that ultimately drew them together from opposite sides of the country.
We lingered over our soft drinks and even now, years later, I think on that conversation with fondness because it was a conversation about things that deeply matter—ultimate things…
A Circle of Christian Friends by a Good Fire
I was reading of the conversion of C.S. Lewis the other day and came across this passage from a letter he wrote to one of his students capped with a lyrical line which I love… in it he was talking about conversations about things that are good turning into conversations about things that are ultimate…
“We meet on Friday evenings in my rooms,” Lewis says, “theoretically to talk about literature, but in fact nearly always to talk about something better. What I owe to them is incalculable. Dyson and Tolkien were immediate human causes of my own conversion. Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
The fire helps. The food helps. Literature is good. Sports in good. Essential oils are good. Football is good. Child training is good. Landscaping is good. These are good things, but they are not ultimate things.
That is why we often have a sense of longings unfulfilled. We are not fully satisfied now, even believers, but as C. S. Lewis said in his address captured in The Weight of Glory; we are not satisfied now… “…but all the pages of the New Testament rustle with the rumors that it will not aways be so…”. Later he says; “One day—one day the door upon which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last…”
We will then experience full and ultimate joy, fulfillment, satisfaction in the presence of God…
Things that are good but not ultimate are meant to arouse a longing for things that are eternal and ultimate.
Timothy Keller has written; “Idolatry is when good things become ultimate things.” When that happens there will be an intense level of emptiness. All the world is bittersweet and it will be until all things become new, but if we don’t understand that we will never experience the sweetness of contemplation and conversation about ultimate things…
And people. This is what Jesus meant for his church to be.
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
January 6, 2019
January 2, 2019
Resolutions and Requests (Sermon) Video
Sunday, December 30, 2018AM
Ken Pierpont, Lead Pastor
Bethel Church| Jackson, Michigan
December 30, 2018
Candy Bars for Grown-Ups
Someone locked the door to Hope’s bedroom. No one could find the key. All the windows were locked. There was no way in. There is a cold air return that opens into her room. Finally we came up with a plan. We took the grates off the cold air return and called our little four-year-old grandson, Koen.
“Koen, buddy, can you crawl through there and open the door.”
Fear on his face. Coxing. Pleading. No luck. He was not ready to crawl into the scary dark hole.
More pleading. More cheap psychology; “Are you a big guy? Are you tough?” No deal.
Finally bald, unadorned bribery. “If you crawl into the hole grandpa will take you to the Dollar Store.”
Koen loves to go to the Dollar Store with gramps and buy junk. It might be his favorite thing to do right after driving the car, driving grandpa’s tractor, and shooting his gun at things.
He immediately shot through the opening and emerged from the door with a heroic grin on his adorable little face. He stood there for a few minutes basking in the adulation due his accomplishment and then said; “I’m getting my coat. We have to go to the Dollar Store”
Keira chimed in saying; “I know just what I want and I only need four dollars.” She knew that if grandpa was going to take her brother to the Dollar Store he would never think of leaving her behind and of course she was right.
Off in the cold winter night we went keeping a sharp eye out for deer. Snow all around. Children in the back seat chattering happily. It was a sleigh ride.
We get to the store. Each child choses a toy. We grab a few other things and check out. I stop dead in my tracks…
“What is wrong with this picture children?” I ask.
They look at me puzzled.
“Do you have a candy bar Keira?”
“Uh, no.”
“Koen,” I ask, “Do you have a candy bar?”
“No,” the little tyke says, searching my eyes for meaning.
“I will just tell you this… we don’t go the Dollar Store with grandpa and leave without a candy bar. That is just not how grandpa rolls. What kind do you like?”
I pick a jumbo peanut butter cup. Keira goes for the Oreos. Koen gramps gumboils. Grandpa vetos the gumboils. Running out of time he grabs a Mounds Bar.
The lady behind the counter says; “I like KitKat.”
We laugh.
Everybody gets their candy bar and we toss a KitKat to the nice lady who reacts wonderfully as if she just won the lottery and we walk to car feeling like Scrouge on Christmas morning sending the prize turkey to Bob Cratchit.
On the way home I ask; “How do you like your candy bars?”
Keira; “I love mine.”
Koen; “Mine’s kinda mushy.”
Keira; “Here Koen. Have one of mine. If you want you can have another.”
I ask Koen; “Do you like your candy bar.”
He says; “I think it is for grown-ups.”
“Would you buy it again?” I ask.
I swallow the rest of his Mounds bar. I’m very grown up. Keira shares another of her cookies with her little bother.
Soon we are home. They run into the farmhouse announcing their treasures to mom and grandma and aunt Hope.
Tomorrow I will leave early and when I return home they will be gone home to Wisconsin. The house will be neat and quiet and nothing will get broken and the remotes will be easy to find… No one will lock the bedroom door and our hearts will ache to hear their little voices. We will miss their antics and the cute things they say and we will miss wasting money on cheap toys and candy bars at the Dollar Store.
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
December 31, 2108
Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 25) Candy Bars for Grown-Ups
Out on Bittersweet Farm the year has nearly come to an end. This has been a very good year, one for which we will always thank God. We completed our first year of service to the good people of Bethel in September. We moved last January into our little farmhouse in the countryside. It is a simple and peaceful place out in nature and it has been great gift from God to us. (Soon I will tell you more of the story of Bittersweet Farm—the next chapter. But that is a story for another day).
We were able to have all our children and grandchildren here over Christmas except Holly and Jesse and their family. (We visited them earlier this month to celebrate the birth of their new baby girl).
The Bethel Church has been very good to us, very loving and very generous. We will have to work hard in this parish and stay long to repay them for all their kindness to us and to our family. It has been place of profound healing for us. The spirit at Bethel is a spirit of sincere love.
We Are Happy But We Are Not Home Yet
We like to say; “Every day is a beautiful day out on Bittersweet Farm and the little light in the kitchen is always on…” but there was the flu bug that made its way around the grandchildren and some of the children, and the septic system did fail, there were a couple of cars that did not start or run right, and the time passed so swiftly… There were two funerals during the holidays and a couple people who are in hospice care and there were others who needed encouragement who were passing through especially dark valleys. Pastoral care at a time like that cannot be deferred until the holidays have passed and all the family has returned home.
All this to remind us that we are not yet enjoying the eternal state… where the sin curse is lifted and the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord.
When the children leave they always leave items behind. A pair of boots. A charger. An item of clothing. Headphones. When we come across these items they put a lump in our throat and a little ache in our hearts.
Some of us live very far apart, but we live in a time when communication is easy and cheap and travel is often within reach too. They come to see us. Sometimes we are able to visit them.
Each one of the children knows the Lord and that is a strong encouragement in a world that has grown so very dark and difficult spiritually. As quiet comes to the old farmhouse in the evening I sit at my desk for a while most nights and write in the peaceful quietness. We lie under thick covers these winter nights in our cool upstairs bedroom. Just before we drift into sleep we send thankful prayers upward to God. We pray that each of the children and grandchildren will ever cling to God no matter what they face.
In the morning before light I leave to preach the funeral of a sister who has gone to be with the Lord. On the way home I hope to visit a man who has been badly burned. Then Lord willing, I will return home to enjoy what we hope to be a quiet New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with some healthy, reasonable food, maybe a football game, and some quiet conversation before we launch into a new year.
For you who read our letters and stories I would love to know how I can pray for you. I trust God will pour out blessing on you in the New Year.
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
December 31, 2018
Candy Bars for Grown-Ups
Someone locked the door to Hope’s bedroom. No one could find the key. All the windows were locked. There was no way in. There is a cold air return that opens into her room. Finally we came up with a plan. We took the grates off the cold air return and called our little four-year-old grandson, Koen.
“Koen, buddy, can you crawl through there and open the door.”
Fear on his face. Coxing. Pleading. No luck. He was not ready to crawl into the scary dark hole.
More pleading. More cheap psychology; “Are you a big guy? Are you tough?” No deal.
Finally bald, unadorned bribery. “If you crawl into the hole grandpa will take you to the Dollar Store.”
Koen loves to go to the Dollar Store with gramps and buy junk. It might be his favorite thing to do right after driving the car, driving grandpa’s tractor, and shooting his gun at things.
He immediately shot through the opening and emerged from the door with a heroic grin on his adorable little face. He stood there for a few minutes basking in the adulation due his accomplishment and then said; “I’m getting my coat. We have to go to the Dollar Store”
Keira chimed in saying; “I know just what I want and I only need four dollars.” She knew that if grandpa was going to take her brother to the Dollar Store he would never think of leaving her behind and of course she was right.
Off in the cold winter night we went keeping a sharp eye out for deer. Snow all around. Children in the back seat chattering happily. It was a sleigh ride.
We get to the store. Each child choses a toy. We grab a few other things and check out. I stop dead in my tracks…
“What is wrong with this picture children?” I ask.
They look at me puzzled.
“Do you have a candy bar Keira?”
“Uh, no.”
“Koen,” I ask, “Do you have a candy bar?”
“No,” the little tyke says, searching my eyes for meaning.
“I will just tell you this… we don’t go the Dollar Store with grandpa and leave without a candy bar. That is just not how grandpa rolls. What kind do you like?”
I pick a jumbo peanut butter cup. Keira goes for the Oreos. Koen gramps gumboils. Grandpa vetos the gumboils. Running out of time he grabs a Mounds Bar.
The lady behind the counter says; “I like KitKat.”
We laugh.
Everybody gets their candy bar and we toss a KitKat to the nice lady who reacts wonderfully as if she just won the lottery and we walk to car feeling like Scrouge on Christmas morning sending the prize turkey to Bob Cratchit.
On the way home I ask; “How do you like your candy bars?”
Keira; “I love mine.”
Koen; “Mine’s kinda mushy.”
Keira; “Here Koen. Have one of mine. If you want you can have another.”
I ask Koen; “Do you like your candy bar.”
He says; “I think it is for grown-ups.”
“Would you buy it again?” I ask.
I swallow the rest of his Mounds bar. I’m very grown up. Keira shares another of her cookies with her little bother.
Soon we are home. They run into the farmhouse announcing their treasures to mom and grandma and aunt Hope.
Tomorrow I will leave early and when I return home they will be gone home to Wisconsin. The house will be neat and quiet and nothing will get broken and the remotes will be easy to find… No one will lock the bedroom door and our hearts will ache to hear their little voices. We will miss their antics and the cute things they say and we will miss wasting money on cheap toys and candy bars at the Dollar Store.
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
December 31, 2108
December 23, 2018
Christmas Party at the Beasley’s
Lois and I were invited to a Christmas party the other night. I thought it was a good time for a selfie…
There was powerful love and genuine joy in the room that night. There was much laughter. There were tears and testimonies and prayers. There was much good food and drink. There was beauty all around. Christmas with Bethel people who love us and people we have come to love very much.
Merry Christmas
Ken Pierpont
Bittersweet Farm
Summit Township, Michigan
December 23, 2018
